Sync Up is our new feature where we will round up all the small news and other announcements, along with various other sights and fun videos from all over the synchro social media sphere. Catch up on everything that you may have missed within the last month or so!

Road to Tokyo

• The Tokyo Olympics Organizing Committee has announced the dates of the test event for synchro. It will be held from April 30 – May 3, 2020, in Tokyo. This will be the final qualifying competition for the Olympics. Three team and seven duet spots will be up for grabs.

Coaching Shuffle

• Synchro Slovakia is looking for a new head coach, following the departure of Gabor Szauder to Canada. If you feel like applying for the position, you can find the full job description here. Deadline is December 5.
• USA Synchro has announced the hiring of Reem Abdalazem as the new national team assistant coach. Abdalazem is a two-time Olympian for Egypt and competed for Lindenwood University in the U.S.
• Speaking of the U.S., Andrea Fuentes finally made the jump across the pond and joined her team. Fuentes was announced as the new head coach back in September.

Back in the Pool

• 2016 Olympic champion Vlada Chigireva is back training at Round Lake with the rest of the Russian national team after missing the 2018 season with a major knee injury.

Retirements

• On the other hand, Canadians Gabrielle Boisvert and Laurence Vézina announced they are stepping away from the pool. Boisvert did not compete with the national team in 2018, but was a part of the 2017 world championships squad. Vézina also competed at the world championships, and was alternate to the team routines in 2018.

New Choreographies

• Giorgio Minisini and Manila Flamini from Italy, the reigning world champions in the technical mixed duet event, are working with Anastasia Ermakova on a new technical duet choreography. Minisini even called it the “greatest duet we’ve ever made.” Saying I can’t wait to see it is an understatement.
• Meanwhile, the Alexandri triplets, who represent Austria, flew across the world to California to work with Stephan Miermont on their new routines.
• The Spanish team worked with Antonio Najarro, the director of the Ballet Nacional de España, to bring out their inner flamenco dancers. They concluded their work with a special and fun platform lift.

Travels Abroad

• The Hungarian team trained alongside the Russian team in Round Lake in late October. Natalia Tarasova, Hungary’s coach, is a former Russian national team member.
• Speaking of Russia, all members of 2018 the European Championships squad traveled to Dubai in early November for their traditional training camp. Some of the athletes of course enjoyed the down time and the sunshine before returning to snowy Moscow.
• The Japanese duet of Yukiko Inui and Megumu Yoshida is training in Guam, gearing up for the 2019 season under the sun in the middle of the Pacific.
• Bregje and Noortje de Brouwer from the Netherlands are off to Moscow for a training camp with the legendary Olga Brusnikina.

National Team Trials

• Following the duet selections, the French continued with the solo trials and it is Eve Planeix who will be the only soloist for the 2019 season, edging out Maureen Jenkins. Planeix competed in the free solo all year while Jenkins focused on the tech last season.
• The Canadian federation announced its new national team training squad on November 26. Four members of the 2018 junior team – Armstrong, Barrett, Regnier and Winkelaar – join the senior ranks.

Got Skills?

• Svetlana Romashina does a barracuda spin 1080°, while essentially all technical soloists last season struggled with the last element, a mere barracuda spin 720°. What, like it’s hard?
• Jacqueline Simoneau is essentially a superhuman, showing off a barracuda straddle split blocked to immediate combined spin. Easy. And that was just before having some fun and doing 28 spins in a row. Yes, you read that right.
• Ona Carbonell is working on some fun, off-axis spin movements.

MasterChef Celebrity

• Spain’s Ona Carbonell, who essentially skipped over the 2018 season to focus on personal project, was announced as the winner of the MasterChef Celebrity edition on November 25.

Article by Christina Marmet.